Cable One, Inc. Reported A Surprise Loss, And Analysts Have Updated Their Forecasts

Last week, you might have seen that Cable One, Inc. (NYSE:CABO) released its second-quarter result to the market. The early response was not positive, with shares down 6.7% to US$37.32 in the past week. Things were not great overall, with a surprise (statutory) loss of US$204 per share on revenues of US$349m, even though the analysts had been expecting a profit. Following the result, the analysts have updated their earnings model, and it would be good to know whether they think there's been a strong change in the company's prospects, or if it's business as usual. Readers will be glad to know we've aggregated the latest statutory forecasts to see whether the analysts have changed their mind on Cable One after the latest results.

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Taking into account the latest results, the six analysts covering Cable One provided consensus estimates of US$1.40b revenue in 2026, which would reflect a measurable 3.1% decline over the past 12 months. Yet prior to the latest earnings, the analysts had been anticipated revenues of US$1.42b and earnings per share (EPS) of US$21.31 in 2026. So despite reconfirming their revenue estimates, the analysts are now forecasting a loss instead of a profit, which looks like a definite drop in sentiment following the latest results.

See our latest analysis for Cable One

With the increase in forecast losses for next year, it's perhaps no surprise to see that the average price target dipped 22% to US$54.25, with the analysts signalling that growing losses would be a definite concern. The consensus price target is just an average of individual analyst targets, so - it could be handy to see how wide the range of underlying estimates is. Currently, the most bullish analyst values Cable One at US$86.00 per share, while the most bearish prices it at US$38.00. This is a fairly broad spread of estimates, suggesting that analysts are forecasting a wide range of possible outcomes for the business.

Looking at the bigger picture now, one of the ways we can make sense of these forecasts is to see how they measure up against both past performance and industry growth estimates. Over the past five years, revenues have declined around 1.6% annually. Worse, forecasts are essentially predicting the decline to accelerate, with the estimate for an annualised 6.1% decline in revenue until the end of 2026. Compare this against analyst estimates for companies in the broader industry, which suggest that revenues (in aggregate) are expected to grow 9.0% annually. So while a broad number of companies are forecast to grow, unfortunately Cable One is expected to see its revenue affected worse than other companies in the industry.

The Bottom Line

The biggest low-light for us was that the forecasts for Cable One dropped from profits to a loss next year. On the plus side, there were no major changes to revenue estimates; although forecasts imply they will perform worse than the wider industry. The consensus price target fell measurably, with the analysts seemingly not reassured by the latest results, leading to a lower estimate of Cable One's future valuation.

Following on from that line of thought, we think that the long-term prospects of the business are much more relevant than next year's earnings. At Simply Wall St, we have a full range of analyst estimates for Cable One going out to 2028, and you can see them free on our platform here..

We don't want to rain on the parade too much, but we did also find 2 warning signs for Cable One that you need to be mindful of.

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This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.